As a corner of Africa heats up, new research by Chris Drea shows how the future of the species rests with powerful matriarchs making tough choices for survival. read more » about Why Alpha Females Reign Supreme in Meerkat World
Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi offer feedback on a major genetic analysis of over a million people indicates that 14 supposedly distinct psychiatric conditions actually share significant biological overlaps, clustering into five underlying genetic groups rather than existing as separate disorders. read more » about Supposedly Distinct Psychiatric Conditions May Have Same Root Causes
Duke University has received $18 million in philanthropic support in the form of a challenge fund to bolster DukeLIFE, a critical resource for first-generation and low-income undergraduates.The collective gift represents the vision of lead donors Fred Sutherland ’73 and Barbara Sutherland ’75, both alumni and parents of two Duke graduates, and The Duke Endowment. The Sutherlands contributed $8 million, and The Duke Endowment contributed $10 million.These new commitments make up a challenge fund that the lead donors hope… read more » about Duke Receives Historic Collective Gift to Support First-Generation, Low-Income Students in Perpetuity
Colder weather means it’s time to curl up with a book. New readings from Duke authors include everything from a mystery and a middle-grade novel to books on privacy, hip-hop and fast fashion. Below is a roundup of some of the most recent and upcoming published titles. Many of the books, including new editions of previous titles, can be found on the “Duke Authors” display shelves near the circulation desk in Perkins Library. Some are available as e-books for quick download. Most can also be purchased through the… read more » about Books for When There’s a Chill in the Air
On November 20, the Times Higher Education’s 2026 Interdisciplinary Science Rankings placed Duke at No. 6 out of 911 institutions in 94 countries. MIT was first, followed by Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Duke and then Georgia Tech.Over the past half century, Duke University has steadily built an ecosystem that links people and ideas. Interdisciplinarity flourishes across campus, encouraging ambitious research, facilitating policy influence and preparing graduates to work… read more » about Duke Recognized Among Top Universities in the World for Interdisciplinary Science
JUNO seeks to answer a fundamental question about the elusive particles. So do two competing experiments coming on line in the next decade.The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) achieved a major milestone in August, after 10 years of construction, when it began collecting data. More than 700 scientists from 17 countries are contributing to the facility, which is the largest liquid-scintillator detector in the world. Its primary goal is to determine the ordering of the neutrino masses. read more » about Kate Scholberg on the Next-Generation Underground Neutrino Detector in China Up and Running
Vibe magazine is merging with Rolling Stone to help bolster its hip-hop coverage to include podcasts, long-form journalism and social media. The magazine was founded by Quincy Jones in 1992 at a time when few mainstream publications were covering the rise of hip-hop and R&B.Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African American studies at Duke University, joins us to discuss what this merger could mean for the future of Black cultural criticism. read more » about Mark Anthony Neal Discusses Vibe's Merger with Rolling Stone
Assistant Professor of Theater Studies Ryan Donovan is quoted in this story about a growing trend of rewriting and reimagining older, successful Broadway musicals rather than mounting expensive productions of new and untried musicals. In reference to "the exciting and renewed production of the 1955 musical 'Damn Yankees' currently ending its run at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.," Donovan says: "None of the creators of 'Damn Yankees' are still around, but the show as written in the 1950s would no longer play as… read more » about 'Bat Boy' Returns After 20 years. Does It Hold a Key to Broadway's Future?
Whether you realize it or not, you spend a large chunk of your day weighing conflicting evidence. It is a hallmark of human rationality that shows up in many of our decisions. But new research shows we might not be alone in our ability to revise our beliefs in light of new information—chimpanzees can do it, too.Belief revision is the process by which humans evaluate an overall set of evidence and make the best choice, discarding weaker evidence in favor of stronger evidence, like a jury does during a witness testimony. It’s… read more » about Brian Hare Quoted on Chimpanzees Weighing Evidence to Make a Smart Choice
Across the far right, a paranoid prophecy has been taking hold: the belief that globalist elites want to take meat off the menu and replace it with insects. The charge has been spouted in one version or another by provocateurs like Tucker Carlson, Mike Cernovich, and Jordan Peterson, and repeated by countless accounts on social media.The claim has found its way into the sloganeering of major right-wing political parties around the world, from the Conservative Party of Canada to Lega in Italy, and the Law and Justice party… read more » about Gabriel Rosenberg: The Myth of the Carnivore Caveman
An orchestra of medical professionals in Durham, North Carolina, used YPCCC’s research to transform a musical concert into a call for climate action. read more » about Harnessing the Power of Music and Public Opinion to Inspire Climate Engagement
Is the new Trump-backed congressional map proposed by the GOP-led North Carolina legislature a partisan gerrymander? Would election results under the map shift depending on the will of the people? Those are questions Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly sought to answer in a new analysis published Sunday. read more » about New NC Map Would ‘Lock In’ Another Republican District, Duke Math Professor Says
The American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) has long harbored secrets. For centuries, Indigenous peoples in eastern North America have brewed “magic water” by boiling bark from the twiggy shrub and using it to treat all manner of maladies, from sore muscles to skin tumors. Diviners have also shaved down the forked branches and pointed them at the ground, arms outstretched, to locate water underground. And in the fall, when most other plants are beginning to go dormant to store energy for spring, the American… read more » about Biology’s Sheila Patek and Justin Jorge Show How Witch Hazels Take Flight
I’m here this week with a special guest—Mark Goodacre, whose new book is entitled, The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Eerdmans, 2025). He is professor of religious studies at Duke University. Among his areas of expertise are Christian origins, the Gospels, and the historical Jesus. read more » about The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: An Interview with Duke Religious Studies Professor Mark Goodacre
Growing up, Tamara Houck trained in the pre-professional division of Dance Theatre of Harlem and then at Ballet Hispánico, taking a full load of classes in ballet, modern, and more. But when applying to college, she knew she didn’t want to major in dance. “As much as I love it, I didn’t see myself having a career in it,” she says. She didn’t want to stop dancing, though. So she became a biochemistry and biotechnology major at Tufts University, and, in addition to taking dance courses open to nonmajors, she joined the Tufts… read more » about Duke Dance Professor Shares How to Have a Rich Dance Life at College Without Getting a Dance Degree
The Federal Reserve is already staring down the difficult task of determining interest-rate policy in the midst of a sluggish labor market and high inflation. The government shutdown now in its second day could make the central bank’s job even harder by delaying the release of important economic data, like this month’s job report.Fed officials have navigated shutdowns before, but current economic conditions, including rising inflation and a softening job market, make this one especially challenging.Ellen Meade, a former Fed… read more » about Ellen Meade Says, “The Fed Might Want to Hold Firm”
Early in the afternoon of March 24, 1999, my wife, Angélica, and I were seated high up in the gallery overlooking the chamber of the House of Lords in London, where a panel of law lords (the English equivalent of a Supreme Court) was to decide whether there were grounds to extradite General Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s eighty-three-year-old former dictator, to Spain to face charges of torture, for which he was alleged to have been responsible during his seventeen years of terror from 1973 to 1990. I had been following the case… read more » about Ariel Dorfman: Pinochet and the Vans of Death
Automotive executives are bracing for a freefall in U.S. electric-vehicle sales following the disappearance of a critical $7,500 tax break for buyers. "It's a game-changer," Ford CEO Jim Farley said during a Detroit event on Tuesday, just hours before the federal subsidy expired. Electric-vehicle registrations could fall 27% without the tax credit, according to a joint study in November 2024 from professors at the University of California, Berkeley, Duke University and Stanford University. read more » about End of EV Tax Subsidy Sparks Worries of Collapse in US Electric Car Sales, According to Duke Research
Penn State students, scholars and community members joined together Tuesday to celebrate the centenary of civil rights activist Malcolm X’s birth. Held at the Hintz Family Alumni Center, the event was organized by a range of contributors including the Borough of State College, Penn State’s Department of African American Studies and Webster’s Bookstore Cafe. It featured panel discussions, poetry readings, refreshments and more. read more » about Ellen McLearney Honors Malcolm X’s Legacy at Penn State Event
The Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula of North Carolina—Early last month, on the opening day of bow hunting season here on a swath of swampy state land, a team of researchers slipped bright orange safety vests over their waders so as not to be mistaken for deer. “We’re hunting too,” said Spencer Rhea, an ecologist at Duke University. “Hunting for trees.”Rhea and his colleagues had gathered to investigate “ghost forests”—otherworldly stands of bleached dead trees drowned by flooding or poisoned by saltwater that… read more » about AI Reveals Vast ‘Ghost Forests’ Along U.S. Coast
Most people know Jane Goodall, who died Wednesday, as a silver-haired conservationist who chatted with Stephen Colbert and gave speeches to the United Nations in defense of nature. For scientists, however, it’s the young Jane Goodall who followed wild chimpanzees for weeks at a time who endures as an icon.“There will always only be one Jane Goodall,” said Michael Tomasello, an expert on the origin of language at Duke University. read more » about Tomasello: ‘‘There Will Always Only Be One Jane Goodall"
These vivid live music memories, that seem to come flooding back the moment a certain song comes on the radio, are not just a common experience, but a common psychological reaction.Eisha Naidu, a post-doctoral associate at Duke University in Durham, N.C., studied this very phenomenon. read more » about Duke Study Shows Live Music Creates Lasting Happiness Through Connection
Using a relatively young theory, a team of mathematicians has started to answer questions whose roots lie at the very beginning of mathematics. read more » about Duke Mathematician Helps Revive Geometry’s Oldest Problems
In this episode of The End of Sport, Nathan and Derek sit down with Dr. Tracie Canada, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Director of The HEARTS Lab at Duke University, to discuss her new book Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football (University of California Press). A decade in the making, this Black feminist analysis confronts how college football exploits and harms the young Black men who dominate rosters across the United States. While universities and coaches… read more » about Interview With Tracie Canada on the Exploitation and Care in College Football
After surviving a moderate drought, Arabidopsis develops stronger resistance to pathogens, offering insights for developing stress-resilient plants. Plants, firmly rooted in the soil, face numerous challenges, whether it is battling pathogens or coping with the pressures of a warming climate and drought. This has sparked significant interest among farmers and researchers in understanding how plants adapt to drought conditions. read more » about Lucia Strader Discusses How Plants Boost Their Immune System to Recover from Drought
Before the Fed’s decision was announced Wednesday, the White House was already circulating materials touting the drop in mortgage rates in anticipation of a rate cut.Many economists and former Fed officials agree with the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates. Ellen Meade, a research professor at Duke University who spent 25 years at the Federal Reserve board, agreed when NOTUS asked if this is a decision the Fed would have made without pressure from Trump. read more » about Duke Economist Discusses the Fed Voting to Cut Interest Rates
The government's negotiations over TikTok and the Federal Reserve's meeting this week are major business stories with political implications for President Trump - and Jon Hilsenrath is here to discuss both. He's a former economics correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and now a visiting scholar at Duke University. Jon, so framework for a deal is not a deal. So what will you be looking for to see if this one actually becomes a deal? read more » about Jon Hilsenrath Discusses TikTok Deal and the Federal Reserve's Upcoming Meeting
The appointment of Bénédicte Savoy underscores France’s changing views on the issue of returning artifacts that were wrongly taken during the colonial period. read more » about Louvre Museum Names Advocate for African Art Repatriation, Highlighting Research Collaboration With Duke's Felwine Sarr
A new strategy for strengthening polymer materials could lead to more durable plastics and cut down on plastic waste, according to researchers at MIT and Duke University.Using machine learning, the researchers identified crosslinker molecules that can be added to polymer materials, allowing them to withstand more force before tearing. These crosslinkers belong to a class of molecules known as mechanophores, which change their shape or other properties in response to mechanical force. read more » about AI Helps Duke and MIT Chemists Develop Tougher Plastics
What’s the science of what makes humans special? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore how we evolved to be different from each other, what's up with Neanderthal DNA, and humanity's superpower with evolutionary anthropologist, Herman Pontzer. read more » about The Power of Adaptability with Herman Pontzer